Fabulous Visitors

Store News & Updates

what a busy week! the cold has been unbelievable! and snow AGAIN last night but just an inch or so. let me tell you it had better NOT snow when i am leaving for CHA!!!!

my poor hubby has been working a HUGE amount of hours still which means i am on my own in the evenings – i am not the best at the bedtime routine since hubby usually does it. and LORD don’t look at the kitchen EEK!!! my craft room clean up has had to be delayed but i am so hoping to get more done this weekend! i am planning on having LOTS of patterned paper up on ebay! gotta make room for more – i just took a look at the new lines coming from SEI (LOVE SEI) and the are fabulous! that birthday line MUST come home to live with me! you can check them out here:

i am excited to see what else will be unveiled by some of my other faves – bo bunny, imaginisce, basic grey – the list goes on and on! so OUT WITH THE OLD! some will go to my step mom *waving* as she has already put in a request for it :) She got me my first cricut and created the monster i have become and then my dad got her an E and she is getting to be just as bad as me!

now a few updates & such…
i want to start off by letting y’all know that the 40% off sale is over for some of the items in the store but i will continue to have many things on clearance so be sure to check the clearance page. and a big thank you to everyone who helped me create some space in my storage area!

some product updates for you – my ENTIRE shipment of glittered skittles arrived WRONG so i am out of mnay colors & working to correct it ASAP but since they are custom made OVERSEAS it is a bit of a lengthy process. also the skittle spiders/bats are sold out and will not reappear until possibly next halloween. I AM considering some easter skittle designs…..skittle eggs anyone???

Polkadot Pie Chocolate Treats sets have been selling out faster than i can get them in but more will arrive next week.

A question about the special order Martha Stewart microbeds sets i am offering – some of the colors in the sets are the same BUT the finish IS NOT. the regular set has a luster/pearl type look to them and the metallic has a metallic finish.

and now as promised some tips for layering your acetate cards. so sorry for the delay!

i am using the acetate card from my microbead tutorial. once the front of the card is done this is what you see from the back of the card – not particularly attractive…SO the answer is in the sandwiching your layers & acetate. so here is how:

the first step is to hide the back of that front piece with the foam tape showing. to do this i cut another light blue nestie shape the SAME SIZE as the piece used on the front. i put adhesive on the bck and laid it adhesiv eside up on my table.then WITH THE CARD OPEN i laid the card on top of the nestie piece so i could be sur eto line it up exatly with the front piece. this way it cnnot be seen from the front of the card but when you ope the card you can no longer see the foam tape.

NEXT we want to put something on the inside of the card so you can write inside, put a sentiment, etc. HOWEVER you need to be aware of how this will look from the FRONT of the card. i decided i did not want any part of the inside visible from the front of the card. so i cut nother nestie piece ONE SIZE SMALLER than the piece on the front. in the 1st pic i have put adhesive on the back of the piece and LAID IT ON THE INSIDE of the card so i can position it correctly in reference to the front piece. this way it is centered perfectly. in the 2nd pic i just closed the back page of the card over the piece so it sticks right where i want it on the inside page of the card. you can also see how the dhesive now shows on the bck of the card. we want to cover that up. so the 3rd pic show WITH THE CARD CLOSED i put my adhesive on the back page making sure it will be hidden by that inside piece we just placed. my back piece will be a mat for that inside piece so i cut it from yellow and it is the SAME SIZE as the front piece of the card. now in order to make sur eit is placed perfectly i lay the mat piece face up on my table, pick up the whole card and plce it on top of the mat. this way i can make sure i line it up perfectly so it CANNOT be seen from the front of the card.

END RESULT:

pic 1 shows the front of the card. pic 2 shows the inside with the yellow mat showing around the smaller inner piece.

what do you think??!!

now have y’all dug out those microbeads?? i have a whole SET of ideas for you coming soon plus more ideas – they will NOT be sitting unused anymore! if you can’t get them near you i am holding a special order for some MS sets – you have until MONDAY the 11th to order – there is a luster set of 12, a metallic set of 12, a valentine iridescent set of 3 and packs of mini spoons. all at a 25% discount to boot!! >>CLICK HERE<<

we will be out in the snow today! i hope you have fun with your day too!!

i got a brief moment to play this weekend and decided to do the OCCC sketch but i wanted to do something with acetate.

here is what i came up with:

for the main image panel i cut a window through the bottom two layers with a nesties die. i cut a piece of acetate slightly larger than the window. I stamped my image with black staz on and let it dry. then i turned it over and randomly spread twinkling H2Os (very thick) over the acetate and sprinkled with ultrafine crystal glitter. i crumbled a piece of tissue paper, un crumpled it and laid it over the back and smooshed it down. i let it dry completely and ten added some glossy accents along the edges to glue it in place. i sandwiched this between the bottom two layers of paper. it is very shimmery and has a cool 3 dimensional feel to it!

twinkling H2Os that is. i know i know – these have been around forever and i am like the last stamper on the planet to get them. i had been holding out and ignoring them and i was reading a post on SCS wondering about the difference between all of our *shimmer* options. so i broke down and bought a couple. before they even got here i read that they are going out of business and all of their stuff is 40% off. well when my first few arrived they were so gorgeous i immediately went back to luminarte and ordered a bunch more! i thought they would be perfect for the tail on this stinkin aDORable image from the greeting farm: as always, near impossible to capture the shimmer – especially since we have had no sunshine but i tried:

tho i have not done a side by side comparison i would say these shimmer about the same as everything else we use BUT there are more color selections in H2Os than anything else i have seen. and i hear they make a great shimmer mist when a chunk is left to melt in some water in a mister!

so on her tail i used a blue and a purple and blended them together. on her shell top i colored with a light pink and then went over it with a clearish white color called icicle. i used a green on her fins and then matching lettuce dimensional pearls for the pearls in her hair and around her tummy. i decided to do an acetate card and i embossed the bottom with swirls and then went over them lightly with some blue staz on and a foam blending pad. i wanted a strip of *sand* across the middle so i snuck into hubby’s sacred garage (i am not even allowed to keep the snow shovels in there) and poked about looking for sandpaper but no luck. then it occured to me i could just use some distress embossing powder! so i covered a strip with versamark and sprinkled on three powders: antique linen, frayed burlap and a touch of holographic and melted. i am quite pleased :) i put a piece of blue across the back to hide the adhesive.

Quick and easy but LOVE the effect. the colors in the floral bouquet set are multicolored mixes and really give stunning results.

i covered an acetate box with a strip of blue bo bunny paper and then i took a brown piece and punched it with a fiskars border punch. i stamped randomly with the same stamp using versamark and brushed on a bit of heirloom gold perfect pearls. i tied some bo bunny polka dot ribbon around it and then added my image with pop dots.

be sure and get your flower soft now! imagine what you can do with it for spring! we have also added some more items – we now have some of the flower soft stamps, printed papers and the individual colors missing from the sets!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* BREAKING NEWS *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~I am once again adding a NEW MEMBER to my Design Team!!

I’d like to introduce Taylor Usry * Musings of an addict! she posted her first project today and i must say it is FABULOUS!!! the other girls will have something up later today also so be sure to check out Catherine and Christine too!!

and now MY project for the day: i used the Sketch over on SCS for this one – it is a new item in the store – acetate boxes the size of A2 cards (1/4 fold) and big enough to fit 8 cards and envelopes – perfect for giving gift sets!

i pulled out an oldie but goody from the first Pez-A-Doodle release – Butterflies A-Swirl. i have been doing so many projects lately with coloring i thought i would do one for those who don’t necessarily want to or like to color. i inked the stamp with various colors of memento inks using the little dew drops – the shape makes it so easy to do this. then i stamped it and wah lah! a colorful image just like that! next i took my versamarker and highlighted the swirls and parts of the butterflies and brushed those with perfect pearls - forever violet and patina green – such delish shimmer!!! a few dabs of flower soft glue - OMGOSH YES the flower soft glue makes a huge difference – and a sprinkling of the new fuschia mix from the floral bouquet boxed set plus a bit of green on the leaves. then finished off with some quick dots of lettuce dimensional pearls which i also used on the corners of the box. the patterned paper is Stampin Up and i inked the edges heavily with bamboo leaves memento ink and my foam blender.

the memento inks and just about everything else are on sale right now so it is a GREAT time to stock up on lots of colors!!!

HUGE HUGS and a big welcome to Taylor – i LOVE her work and really look forward to having her on the team!!

So right now i am flying across the country to attend CHA with my buddy Suzanne (who is petrified to fly and hopefully not freakin out too badly!!!) I am SO excited and will be sharing what i find with you every day!!!

I have another project today in honor of the chance at getting a double entry in the blog truffle i have up for grabs – ACETATE GIFT BOXES. i just LOVE to make these – so quick and easy and i think they look so cool! i will fill them with white tissue shreds and valentine candy.

i bought a whole bunch of these in three different sizes. they start out flat so it’s really easy to stamp them. i used stazon ink and stamped the polkadot pie border across the top & bottom. then i covered the sides with a background sprinkles stamp and added a coordinating image stamped randomly in the empty spaces.

main images are stamped with memento and colored with copic markers. this one has liquid pearls and stickles and a piece of the great ribbon from the bittersweet pezzy picks kit.

a better look at one side:

And here is another box done up to hold a bday gift:

and the sides done in the same way as the one above again with stazon:

I hope to see y’all post your polkadot pie projects!!!

~*~*~*~*~Be sure to tune in tomorrow – kick off for a big CHA contest~*~*~*~*~